Opinion: Handing over the sails to Phuket’s next generation

PHUKET: The Phuket Gazette is pleased to welcome sailing enthusiasts from across the region to Phuket for Asia’s premier sailing competition, the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta.

As this year’s competition marks the 30th anniversary of the event, this week is an ideal time to reflect on the three decades of the event’s development, as well as to consider ways to improve the Regatta so that it remains as exciting and relevant 30 years from now as it is today.

All of the excitement of this year’s competition must of course be tempered with due respect to the ongoing nationwide mourning over the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The Father of Thai Sailing, His Majesty was an avid boat-builder whose pioneering contributions to the sport will be remembered throughout the ages. Pictures of His Majesty sailing one of his hand-crafted dinghies remain among the most iconic images of the beloved Monarch. First staged in 1986 to mark His Majesty’s 60th birthday, the King’s Cup has been held every year since.

As a ten-year sponsor of the Regatta, the Gazette encourages participants and the general public to join us in remembering Rama IX by taking part in the planned ‘sail past’ ceremony to take place on December 9.

Looking forward, it is good to remember that nature teaches us that few things remain in stasis; they either grow or decline. Fortunately, the Regatta continues to evolve in ways that draw scores of true ‘quality tourists’ each year, thus helping to dispel long-held perceptions that jet-skis are somehow much sought after additions to our marine leisure fleet.

As just a few examples of this growth, this year’s event marks the introduction of the ‘CR:X Kiteboard Class’ competition, and will also serve as the award-giving stage for the recently-completed ‘Kids’ Racing Series’.

Sailing can go a long way in helping distracted youth to drop their tablets and iPhones for a spell and learn to develop themselves mentally and physically, getting in touch with nature and learning to work as a team in the process.

Hopefully the Regatta will continue to develop and grow in directions that include attraction of more newcomers to the joys of sailing, so that it can be handed over in full trust, and with joy, to the next generation of sailors when that time comes.

Thailand is emerging as a frontrunner in the nascent Asian cannabis market. With 175 clinicians now qualified to prescribe cannabis-based medicines in the country, Thailand is at the cusp of a major breakthrough in realising the commercial and societal benefits of medical cannabis.

The Asian Cannabis Report published in May by leading market analysts and advisors Prohibition Partners, forecasts that the Thai cannabis market will be worth US$237.2 million by 2024 should medical access open up.

In February, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) took the landmark decision to approve the use of cannabis for research and medical purposes. This cemented Thailand’s position at the vanguard of medicinal cannabis in Southeast Asia, as the first country in the region to use cannabis to treat Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, drug-resistant epilepsy and pain and nausea in cancer patients.

The NLA’s decision will theoretically allow medical practitioners to prescribe cannabis-based treatments to people living with a range of chronic and debilitating conditions.

Currently, there are only two officially sanctioned plantations in Thailand which are permitted to grow a strain of cannabis that is low in psychoactive compounds – less than 1% THC – to supply hospitals or government research institutes. All medical cannabis must be grown indoors to prevent illegal trade and ensure quality.

While the Thai government is still tightly controlling the production and supply of the market, foreign companies such as GW Pharmaceuticals and Otsuka Pharmaceutical are alert to developments and have begun to file patent requests. The Thai Department of Intellectual Property has denied requests from the British and Japanese companies. Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong recognised that cannabis ‘is Thailand’s future cash crop’ and hard-working domestic businesses will naturally be concerned that if future patents are granted, international parties will get a head-start and dominate the potentially lucrative market.

In order for Thai businesses to reap the rewards medical cannabis can bring, legislation needs to be clarified. Right now, all eyes will be on regulations due to be published next month. It is believed that these will establish licensing and prescribing criteria for medical practitioners, but it is yet to be seen whether Thai farmers and businesses can expect the same clarity around domestic cultivation.

Whether in Oceania, Europe or North America, the evidence is unquestionable; citizens and governments across the globe are rapidly waking up to the potential of developing medical cannabis markets, and, provided legislation keeps apace, Thailand is well placed to lead the pack in Asia.

Daragh Anglim is Managing Director of Prohibition Partners, leading market analysts and advisors for the emerging cannabis industry.

• The view expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Thaiger or its staff. The article is published to enhance the understanding of the issues related to partial legalisation of medical cannabis in Thailand.

OPINION: The Phoenix shouldn’t be auctioned off today

The Phoenix is going up for auction today. The auction is being held by Thailand’s AMLO (Anti Money Laundering Office) as the investigation is now complete and the vessel is no longer needed for evidence. Interested bidders have been able to inspect the vessel as it sits at the Rattanachai Shipyard in Phuket.

The Phoenix is the boat that sank last July in a sudden storm that hit the area south of Phuket. The boat capsized and sank. The Captain and crew were some of the first people to get into the life rafts. Many Chinese passengers were stuck downstairs and drowned when the boat sank to the bottom of the Andaman Sea.

But, with a starting price of 900,000 baht, it may sound like a steal if you’re wanting a second hand tour boat which, new, would have cost millions of baht to build.

You would hope that the simple business process of today’s auction will start with some mention of the 47 souls that succumbed to the poor design, poor duty of care and poor application of marine laws and inspections that caused the boat to sink in the first place.

But we suspect that nothing of that sad tale will even be mentioned. Just 10 months following the incident, today’s auction is far too soon. But the boatyard is likely charging ongoing hard-stand fees and that would be the main driver to get rid of the boat.

Let’s remember the AMLO are auctioning a boat not fit for purpose. The design of the vessel has already been partially responsible for the death of 47 Chinese tourists whose only mistake was to trust Thai authorities and the boat’s operators that Phoenix was seaworthy and safe to take them on a day tour.

“This boat only has one watertight door. It should have four watertight doors. Glass should be a marine glass grade. In this boat passengers couldn’t break the glass to escape. Also, a converted truck engine had been used instead of proper marine-grade engine.”

“Cement blocks were used to help balance the boat and keep it upright. Experts analysis has matched the actual vessel with the original plans and design of the boat.”

Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, leading the investigation of the Phoenix sinking

Whatever the buyer of the second hand tour boat thinks they’re buying there will have to be fundamental changes to parts of the design and engineering of the vessel to make it capable of carrying paying passengers ever again.

In the original myth, the phoenix was a bird that lived for 500 years before it built its own funeral pyre, burst into flame, and died, consumed in its own fiery inferno. Soon after, the mythical creature rose out of the ashes, in a transformation from death to life. This story of becoming ‘born again’ predates the story of the well-worn phrase “phoenix rising from the ashes”.

And here it is, about to rise again, most likely picked up by another tour boat company in the region, re-sprayed, re-named (usually considered bad luck for a boat) and pressed into service again as a money-making venture.

The new owners will need to disguise the boat’s tragic history well as very few Asian customers would ever step foot on a boat with so many unhappy ghosts inhabiting it.

The auction is far too soon and doesn’t accompany any recognition of the tragedy or the destructions of lives and families that must never be forgotten.

OPINION: A sad, but inevitable, farewell to The Nation daily

Sad news yesterday when The Nation announced it was going to stop the daily publishing of its newspaper. After 48 years, The Nation Multimedia Group is shutting up shop on its daily newspaper.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected and is a decision that every newspaper has either already made, is constantly reviewing or will have to make in the future, probably soon. The Nation Multimedia Group’s CEO maintained that there would be no reductions in editorial staff. When these announcements are made there is always promises of a rosy online future and no reductions in staff. In reality there has to be a reduction in staff to make the transition from paper to online fiscally possible.

For The Nation it was somewhat of a perfect storm of problems that precipitated yesterday’s announcement to go online-only.

Thailand’s expat and english-speaking demographic is changing. The numbers of English-speaking expats is dropping (not a lot) but the numbers of non English-speaking expats is growing. The same is reflected in the tourist mix passing through the Kingdom these days. It’s just an evolutionary transition that’s also reflected in the nationalities buying property in Thailand.

A hard core of expats, some of The Nation’s devout readers, are also finding it increasingly difficult to stay in Thailand. Take a long-term British expat for example, living happily on their UK pension and spending long days by the beach. With the British pound plunging against the Thai baht the real cost of living has gone up, a lot, for many of these long-termers. Then add the steadily rising costs of living in Thailand and new requirements for long-stay visas and the long days at the beach are getting more expensive and more complex.

Then

The expat mix is also getting a lot younger. You guessed it, younger people are more inclined to read their news and seek information online.

Finally, the advertising revenue for newspapers is getting very thin on the ground. Newspaper advertising is expensive, non-intuitive and certainly not ‘real time’ as demanded by both readers and advertisers. Why would any sane business owner place an ad in their newspaper when, for a fraction of the cost, they can directly target THEIR buyers with an online ad. AND it’s totally measurable.

Just current economic conditions – a strong baht, falling exports and political uncertainty – are eating into business advertising spend and confidence as well.

There’s also a lot more choice for advertisers these days as the revenue creeps away from the old triumvirate of press, radio and TV. At the same time online platform traffic soars in numbers and new platforms and innovations get added every day.

Now

The Nation’s daily paper is just another victim of the relentless technological march.

The people (me included) who used to make it a daily habit to trawl through the pages of the dailies are getting older, moving across to the online platforms, or simply dying or leaving Thailand. At the same time a few thousand smartphones will be bought today bringing almost instantaneous news to their screens, along with hundreds of choices of media, opinions, formats and, yes, advertisements.

The sight of people travelling on public transport, or walking around, heads buried in their screens is scary to us ‘old-timers’. But the smartphone, and to a lesser extent tablets, laptops and desktops, is where people will increasingly source just about everything they need to know. They will ‘choose’ what they want to read, not some editor’s view of the world or slanted choices of news to publish.

It’s a sad day when any venerable banner, like The Nation, has to cease publishing but we, the consumers, have determined their fate, and the fate of the remaining newspapers in Thailand, by making the move online. The publishers are adjusting to the new technology as well and following the new money-trail.

The Nation will publish its last daily newspaper on June 28.

The Thaiger has an editorial partnership with the Nation Multimedia Group.

The Thaiger is a deep resource for people looking for news, information, properties, lifestyle and travel articles about Thailand and our nearby region. Daily news is short, to the point, sourced originally and easy to find and read. The Thaiger also has a radio station in Phuket on 102.75 FM and Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter channels. The Thaiger Co. Ltd is a company registered in Phuket, Thailand.